Expansible storm sash



Oct. 30, 1956 R. s. WOODARD 2,753,410

' EXPANSIBLE STORM SASH Filed June 6, 1955 ,ZSheets-Sheet l Mme/r702: fay 5 )faaD/YEF Oct. 30, 1956 R. s. WOODARD 2,768,410

EXPANSIBLE STORM SASH Filed June 6, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 9 FIGS. 8

United States Patent 2,768,410 EXPANSIBLE STORM s'Asn Roy S. Woodard, St. Louis, Mo.

Application June 6, 1955, Serial No. 513,290

4 Claims. (Cl. 20-55) This invention relates generally to storm sashes and particularly to storm sashes which are adjustable so as snugly to engage the frame or jamb of a window despite minor irregularities therein.

A storm sash of this character is described in my Patent No. 2,518,969.

The expander shown in Patent No. 2,518,969 has been used commercially for almost ten years. While it has performed well, there are certain disadvantages inherent in its construction. It requires that a deep groove be cut in the frame of the storm sash. The adjusting screw is so coupled to the movable member that the thrust of the screw tends to cock the web of the sliding member in the deep groove. Furthermore, only a single thickness of metal is provided along two edges of the storm sash as is shown particularly in Figures 2, 4, and of the patent.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an expander which makes a positive double seal along the edges of the storm sash from which'it extends, is neat in appearance, dust proof and efficient.

Another object of this invention is to provide a corner piece for use in connection with the expander of this invention which is neat in appearance and also provides a complete seal.

Another object of this invention is to provide a storm sash of new design the frame of which may be extruded.

Another object is to provide a universal nut for use with the extruded type storm sash frame.

Another object is to provide an expansion typestorm sash with a dust proof vent.

Another object is to provide such a storm sash which is assembled in a novel manner to form mitered corners.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.

In accordance with this invention generally stated, an expansion type storm sash is provided, the rails of which may be of extruded metal construction. Preferably all of the rails, but at least one vertical and dne horizontal rail of the storm sash are provided with a U-shaped channel open along the edges of the sash. An inverted U-shaped expander fits within the rail channel in such a way that the two legs of the expander bear snugly against the inside walls of the rail channel to form a seal therewith. A T-shaped slide, integral with the rail extends along the bottom of the rail channel.

Expansion screws extending transversely through the rails, take into nuts which are slid into position along the slide within the frame channel, and serve to move the expander outwardly and inwardly.

A corner closer is provided to bridge the gap between contiguous expanders. It is made in two, mirror-image sections, connected in such a way that the sideplates of the-corner piece are flexible with respect to one another.

The storm sash may be provided with partitions surrounding a vent opening insuch a way that neither dirt nor moisture can enter the space between the prime window and .the storm sash.

The storm sash is assembled in such a way that the corners are mitered and held together by means of a diagonally directed bolt.

In the drawing.

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a storm sash of this invention, installed within a window opening;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view in perspective showing the expander in expanded position and a corner closure in condition to be installed;

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding substantially with Figure 2, but showing an expander in retracted position;

Figure 6 is a detail view in perspective, partly broken away, of a corner closure;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view of an edge of the frame of this invention showing an adjusting screw-retaining clip in place;

Figure 8 is a view in perspective of one embodiment of adjusting screw-retaining clip before it is installed;

Figure 9 is a view in perspective showing a storm window constructed in accordance with still another embodi- V ment of this invention, provided with a ventilator panel and dust proof barrier; and

Figure 10 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a lip integral with the outside surface of an inner leg of a rail member of the frame.

Referring now to the drawing, and particularly to Figures 15 for an illustrative embodiment of this invention, reference numeral 1 indicates a complete storm sash mounted in a jamb on the room side of a prime window. The sash 1 has a left vertical rail 2, a bottom rail 3, a head rail 4, and a right vertical rail 5. In this embodiment, the rails are extruded aluminum, with a channel 1h extending along the outer edge of each of them. Side walls of the channel 10 are defined by the inside surfaces of an inner leg 12 and an outer leg 14. In the bottom of the channel 10 is a T-shaped slide 16, with a head 18 and a stem 20. The stem 20 is integral with the bottom of the rail. A pair of grooves 22 are defined by the sides of the stem 20 which form the bottoms of the grooves 22, and the opposed surfaces of the head 8 and bottom of the channel 1% which form the sides of the grooves 22.

Integral with the outside surface of the outer leg 14 is a glazing ledge 6 in which a pane of glass 7 is seated, and a wall 8 defining a recess into which a glazing strip 9 is received to hold the pane '7 in place.

An expander 25 is seated within the channel It} of each of the rails. The expander 25 is inverted U-shaped in cross section, with a pair of legs 27 and a connecting web 29. The legs 27 are divergently inclined with respect to one another as they leave the Web 29. Near their free longitudinal edges, the legs 27 are bent inwardly (convergently) as indicated at 31 to provide a smooth, uniform, sealing and bearing surface 33 against the inner walls of the legs 12 and 14-.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 1-5, two adjusting screws 35 are provided along the right vertical rail 5 and two more along the head rail 4. Each of the adjusting screws 35 extends through a lateral hole 37 in the rail. The screw is provided at its inner end with a slot 39 to take a screw driver. It is provided near its outer end with a threaded section 41 which takes into the internally threaded section of a nut 50. At itsouter end, the screw 35 is provided with an annular groove 43 which is defined by a shoulder 44, a neck 45 and a head 46.

The web 29 of the expander 25 is provided with key hole slots 47, each having an enlarged hole 48 and a relatively narrow slot 49. The web 49 is also provided adjacent but at a substantial and fixed distance from the closed end of each slot 49, with a hole 42. The hole 48 of the key hole slot 47 is large enough to admit the head 46 of the adjusting screw 35. The slot 49 is wide enough closely to admit the neck 45 of the screw, and is too narrow to permit the head 46 or shoulder 44 to pass.

A clip 55, having a key hole slot 56 with an enlarged hole 57 and a relatively narrow slot 58 is designed to lock the adjusting screw in position and to reinforce the web 29 against deformation by the screw. The clip 55 is provided with a tail 59 which extends from the end of the clip toward which the hole 57 of the key hole slot 56 is directed. The hole 57 is sufiiciently large to admit the head 46 of the adjusting screw 35, while the slot 58 is only wide enough to admit the neck 45, and not the head 46 or shoulder 44. The clip 55 is so proportioned that the end of the clip opposite the tail 59 extends chordially across the hole 48 of the web key hole slot 47, while the end of the clip to which the tail S9 is attached does not reach the nearest edge of the hole 42, when the closed end of the slot 58 of the clip 55 snugly engages the neck 45 of the screw 35. The tail 59 is bent inwardly through the hole 42 and into engagement with the edge of the web 29 which defines the perimeter of the hole 42, as shown in Figures 3 and 7. The length of the neck 45 between the shoulder 44 and head 46 is sufiicient to admit the thicknesses of metal making up the web 29 and the clip 55.

The nut 50 is provided with a pair of legs 51 with inturned feet 53. The feet 53 fit slidably within the grooves 22. This permits the nut 50 to be slid lengthwise of the rail 16 but prevents any lateral movement of the nut 50. Thus, the nut 50 can be slid along the rail 13 until it is aligned with a hole 37, and an adjusting screw 35 can then be screwed into the threaded section of the hole. The heads 46 of the screws 35 are covered by a strip 54 of felt or similar resilient insulating material which runs the full length of the Web 29 of the expander 25.

A felt covered expander 25 is also fastened into the channels 10 of the rails 2 and 3. However, in the embodiment shown, adjustment is provided only on the top and right side rails 4 and 5, so that no adjusting screws need be provided along the rails 2 and 3. Nuts 50 may be utilized in mounting the fixed expanders in the nonadjusting rails. By way of illustration, the holes 42 may be made large enough to admit a screw capable of taking into the nut 50. A nut may then be positioned beneath one of the holes 42 and the screw may simply be screwed into the nut through the hole 42 to hold the expander in place. Other ways of maintaining the expander within the non-adjusting rail channels will occur to those skilled in the art. It is a simple matter, because the expanders need only be maintained in place during installation of the storm sash, the thrust against them being sufiicient to hold them solidly in place when the storm sash is installed.

It can be seen that as the expanders along the right vertical rail and the top rail 4 are moved outwardly, the felt strips with which they are covered move away from one another. To bridge the gap between the two expanders, a corner closure 60 is provided. The corner closure 60 is made up of a pair of members which are mirror images of one another. Each of the members consists of an L-shaped plate 62 with a flange 64 extending along the outside edges of the plate and at right angles thereto. The free edges of the flanges 64 are placed close together and a strip of flexible material such as felt, rubber, or vinyl plastic is securely adhered to the outside face of the flanges 64. The provision of a flexible connecting member permits the plates 62 to move with respect to one another. In this way, the plates can be inserted in the channels of the head rail 4 and the stile 5, between the outside faces of the legs 27 of the expanders and the legs 12 and 14 of the frame channels. The legs 27, bearing against the plates 62, urge the plates 62 into firm contact with the inside surfaces of the legs 12 and 14 of the channel, thus ensuring an effective corner seal.

In constructing a storm sash of this invention, stock may be extruded and cut into suit-able rail lengths. The ends of the rails are cut to a miter, and a hole is drilled through the center of the head 13 of the bar 16, at right angles to the surface of the miter, through the rail. The holes are counterb'ored, and the meeting rails are joined by a bolt the head of which seats within the counterbore in one of the members and a nut on which seats within the counterbore in the other member.

With this mitering arrangement, nuts 50 may he slid onto the slide 18 on each of the channeled members from the corner of the frame, and the nuts on rails 4 and 5 in the embodiment shown are aligned with corresponding holes 37 in the rails. The adjusting screws 35, extending through the holes 37 are then screwed through the nuts 50 to a substantially identical distance. An expander 25 is then slid into the channel 10 of the rails 4 and 5, positioned in such a way that the holes 48 of the key hole slots 47 are directly over the head 46 of each of the adjusting screws 35, and set down upon the shoulders 44, the heads 46 passing through the holes 48. The expander is then slid longitudinally in a direction to slide the neck of the screws 35 into the slot 49 until the closed end of each slot 49 abuts the neck 45 of each adjusting screw 35. A clip 55 is now placed on each adjusting screw 35 and slid along until the closed end of the slot 58 engages the opposite side of the neck 45 of the adjusting screws 35 from that engaged by the end of the slot 49. Because the end of the clip 55 overlaps the hole 48 of the key hole slot 47, a drift pin or punch can be inserted in the hole 48 to hold the web 29 and clip 55 in snug engagement with the neck 45 of the adjusting screws 35 while the tail 59 is bent down through the hole 42 by means of another drift pin or punch. When this has been done with each of the clips, the expander is securely positioned and each of the adjusting screws is securely anchored to it. The clip provides effective reinforcement for the web 29. As has been described, the nuts 50 on the rails 2 and 3 may be aligned with holes 42 of the non-adjusting expanders 25.

It can be seen that adjusting screws may be provided along more than two of the rails and may conveniently be provided along the left vertical rail 2 instead of the right vertical rail 5. In practice, it has been the custom to make the top rail 4 and the left vertical rail 2 the adjusting rails, and additionally to provide the right vertical rail with adjusting screws, when the prime window is more than about forty-four inches wide. However, it is entirely feasible to provide the bottom rail with adjusting screws as well. The number of adjusting screws supplied along any rail as a matter of choice. For large spans, a large number may be required. Even on ordinary thirty-six inch 2. light casement Windows, three or more adjusting screws may be provided along an adjusting rail in order to equalize the load on the expander.

In Figure 9, another embodiment of the storm sash of this invention is shown. In this embodiment, the channel members may be identical with those previously described. However, a universal lip is extruded integrally with the rails. This lip lies on the room side plane surface of each of the rails. The lip along the bottom rail serves to receive and slidably to support the bottom edge of a sliding ventilator panel 82. The lips along the side rails serve to receive the side edges of the ventilator panel when it is in its extreme open or closed position. The sliding ventilator panel 82 covers, when the ventilator is closed, an opening defined by a frame 84. The frame 84 is made up of a mullion 86 corresponding with a mullion in a prime window and a transom 85 corresponding with a similar transom in the prime window. The transom 85 carries a lip corresponding in function to the lip on the bottom rail. The ventilator panel 82 corresponds in area with a projection type or vertically pivoted casement window. If the ventilator panel extends the full height of the window, the top lip of the frame serves as the guiding and retaining lip, and no separate transom is needed.

The lip extends toward the center of the frame only about half the width of the rail, so that the lip does not intrude into the light area of the Window, and permits the frame of the ventilator panel to be removed from that area as well.

Extending between the transom 85 of the storm sash and the corresponding transom of the prime window is a partition 88. Extending between the mullion 86 of the storm sash and the corresponding mullion of the prime Window is a partition 89. In the embodiment shown, the partitions 88 and 89 are secured to one another and are fastened to the prime window. They are provided on their inside edges with a strip of felt, rubber, vinyl plastic or other suitable resilient insulating material 99. The partitions 83 and 89 are of the width to provide optimum spacing between the prime window and the storm sash. They thus serve a double function. The storm sash need only be set in place and moved toward the prime window until it makes firm contact with the insulation-covered edges of the partitions 8S and 89. The adjusting screws are then operated to move the expanders outwardly until they tightly engage the edge of the window jamb. The distance between the prime window and the storm sash is thus accurately determined. The snug engagement of the resilient insulation 90 and the storm sash creates a sealed L-shaped space which is not subject to the entrance of dust or moisture. Thus, when the ventilating panel 82 is slid open and the casement prime window opened, ventilation is bad through the opening bounded by the partitions 88 and 89, while dust is excluded from the remainder of the area of the window and no condensation problems arise. This practically eliminates the necessity of Washing the interior surfaces of the storm sash and window panes in the sealed space.

It can be seen that the partitions 88 and 89 need not be secured to one another before they are installed. They may in fact be simply made to bear snugly against one another, but be otherwise unconnected. They may be fastened to the storm sash instead of to the prime window, and will accomplish the same result in the same way.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A storm sash comprising connected top, bottom and side rails, at least two meeting rails being provided with open channels along their outer edges, said channels being of substantial width and having a slide in the bottom upon which nuts are slidably mounted whereby said nuts may be moved longitudinally of said rails but are restrained against lateral movement with respect thereto, inverted U-shaped expanders mounted for lateral movement in said channels, said expanders each having legs which diverge from a connecting web and bear upon the walls defining the channels, and adjusting screws, taking through lateral holes in said rails and into said nuts, and connected to said expanders whereby the expanders may be moved inwardly and outwardly with respect to said channels.

2. The storm sash of claim 1 wherein a corner closer is provided, said corner closer comprising a pair of mirror-image members in the form of L-shaped plates having flanges extending along two outside edges, said flanges being joined by a strip of flexible material, and said L-shaped plates being mounted at a meeting corner of two channeled rails with their inside edges seated between the legs of the expanders and the channel walls of each of the meeting rails.

3. The storm sash of claim 1 wherein all of the rails are provided with the channels described.

4. The storm sash of claim 1 wherein each adjusting screw is provided at its outer end with an annular groove defined by a head, a neck and a shoulder; the web of each expander is provided with uniformly oriented keyhole slots extending longitudinally of the expander and an opening adjacent but spaced from the closed end of the slot part of each keyhole slot; and anchoring clips are provided, each of said anchoring clips having a keyhole slot and a tail adjacent the enlarged end of the keyhole slot, said clip being so proportioned that when an adjusting screw is positioned with one side of its neck hearing against the closed slot end of the keyhole slot in the web and the opposite side of its neck bearing against the closed slot end of the keyhole slot in the clip, the tail of the clip is positioned in part over the aperture of the web and the opposite extremity of the clip is in chordal relation to the enlarged end of the keyhole slot in the web.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,518,969 Woodard Aug. 15, 1950 2,545,902 Sugar Mar. 20, 1951 2,637,878 Watkins May 12, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 532,830 Great Britain Sept. 21, 1939 

